By Mary Hill-Wagner
In a letter to Intersections, one South LA resident wrote: “Our community desperately needs help combating prostitution on the corner of 29th Street and Western (Avenue).” 
David Chiu — who has lived in the neighborhood for a decade — wrote the letter in hopes that someone would take action against the prostitutes and pimps who have all but overrun his neighborhood.
“During the past three years prostitution has become a problem, and now it is unbearable,” Chiu wrote. “Prostitutes are standing on the corner of 29th and Western (Avenue) all hours of the day and night.”
Chiu claims that he has repeatedly called the police and says he has been told that he should relocate because the LAPD has much more serious problems to combat than the seemingly victimless crime of prostitution.
The LAPD refused to comment on the matter.
“We have witnesses violent fights between pimps; pimps brutally beating up girls; and a naked prostitute being beaten and thrown into the trunk of a car by her pimp,” the letter continued.
For his part, Chiu said he put in flood lights near his house after he witnessed a “John being serviced” in his yard.
Chiu said, “We were informed by an officer working in the Southwest Division that the prostitutes know how to work the system by filing complaints against police officers,” the letter continued. “After a certain number of complaints, officers will be transferred out of a division to protect their careers.”
On June 22 the LAPD and the City Attorney’s Office will hold a meeting with residents of Council District 8 to discuss how to address the prostitution problem in the neighborhood along Western between 28th & 30th Streets. The meeting is scheduled to be held at the Southwest Community Police Station, 1546 W. Martin Luther King, Blvd. All interested residents are encouraged to attend.
Meanwhile, other local activists have taken up the cause to fight prostitution. However, their methodology is less about law enforcement, and more about community action, said Najee Ali, direct of Project Islamic HOPE.
On June 17 a coalition of community based organizations and leaders will launch a new South Los Angeles initiative called, “a protest against prostitution.”
The group will meet in front of the Barack Obama Global Prep School, 1700 W. 46th Street in Los Angeles at 9 p.m. The group will march along Western Avenue. The group plans to offer social services to the “working girls,” according to a Project HOPE news release.
“These women need help to overcome homelessness, domestic violence and substance abuse,” said Ali. “These are our sisters, daughters and mothers on these streets, who are participating in these immoral and illegal acts.”
A push by law enforcement against the pimps and prostitutes would merely move the problem onto another block, he said.
“Getting police involved just moves the problem to another street, to another yard,” he said. “We’re trying to address causes and offer solutions. This way they can get off the street permanently rather than just leaving and coming back when (the police) are gone,” Ali said.
Ali said the prostitution activity has picked up in South LA largely due to the poor economy. “We’re not about locking them up and throwing away the key,” he said.
